The Wise Listen
by Heaven's Archer
Summary: Nat wasn't perfect. Far from it. She's been found, lost, broken, put back together and now she's being dragged through more drama than she ever wanted...Follows the main glee!verse. Currently in Season 1!
1. Chapter 1: Pilot

**The Wise Listen**

Hello any lovelies reading this First chapter fic I've written in awhile and actually decided to post. I figured a story with an update every now and then would be a nice outlet for pent up frustration.

As always, R&R. With this story especially it will be a massive help with motivation.

Mostly it is just going to be an episode by episode view by an OC. Simply because I am not really used to writing anything but essays atm ;) It may be a bit iffy til I get my flow back, bare with.

Each little 'section' of each episode will be seen through 'Nat's' eyes and will most likely skip through time a bit to just the parts of the show. There will be some small inserts in between so that I can give her a bit of backstory. This will likely occur until I get to season 2, in which I have mass plans for her story to come to the front and her to become a much more dominant character.

**Disclaimer For Story: I do not own Glee in any way shape or form.**

XOXOXOXO

_Chapter One: Pilot_

Nat walked through the school nervously, glancing now and then at the fading door numbers situated between the sea of lockers. She had already wrestled with her locker and _somehow _managed to get it open to fit her stuff into it. She'd managed to get dumped in next to the school's cheerleaders; which lead to many frustrating comments about her faded jeans, long sleeved plain top and jacket. Not that she commented of course, why humour them?

The school itself was dreadfully dreary and, apart from the rather annoying series of comments about the new kid, the conversations were practically about who got drunk at what party and who hooked up with whom over the summer. It was obvious these teens thought that the world wasn't any bigger.

Nat had her map clenched in her hand (an unfortunate side-effect of her ever present nervousness) and carefully flattened it out so she could see her class list.

_Art_

_English_

_Algebra_

_World History_

_Latin_

_Chemistry_

_Physical Education_

Natalie raised an eyebrow as she glanced over it, barely recognising the classes. A few sounded similar to what she did in Australia, but the curriculum in America was vastly different. As it was in every country, she supposed.

She pulled out the highlighted map provided by the school's secretary and leaned against her locker, squinting her eyes in an attempt to decipher the fuzzy lines and illegible writing, with quite a lot of guesswork and fast paced walking, she eventually made it to the correct corridor. Thank god.

As she turned to face the door of her first class, Art. She fished through her bag and brought out her sketch pad, graphite pencil set and small collection of paints and pastels before taking a deep breath and stepping through into her first day of what she would come to know as hell.

XOXOXOXO

Natalie looked up at the bulletin board, covered in ripped and vandalised signup sheets. She glanced casually over the staples of Chess Club and Debating, the threatening boldness of the 'Cheerios' squad (…wasn't that a food? She mused) before her eyes rested upon the sheet seemingly in the centre. Already, a few names were sprawled across the average A4 sheet proclaiming sign ups for New Directions, some type of 'Glee club' (After taking the time to google the ideal, Nat realised it wasn't some weird club where you went if you were happy). Various examples of both hideous and wonderful penmanship illustrated the varied clientele. One name even had a star next it (someone wants attention, Natalie thought to herself). However, the sheet was marred with graffiti and obscene drawings from those that obviously thought themselves better than those signing up.

She adjusted her dark brown, worn messenger bag and reached into the front pocket to grab out one of the pens of her collection rather large stationary collection; a blue, shimmering pen.

With a deep breath and a small frown upon her face, in a rushed, half-cursive scrawl appeared two words.

_Natalie Tyler_

She placed the pen back in her bag and pursed her lips, a small amount of sadness in her eyes.

Natalie could admit it, it seemed a bit like betrayal. Sure, they didn't have Glee Clubs back in Australia, but it almost seemed as though she was moving on and she certainly wasn't. She tapped on the screen of her Blackberry, bringing up a candid shot of a teenage girl pulling a stupid face. A small smile came to her face as she opened up messaging and sent a familiar message.

Nat: I miss you. So, so much.

XOXOXOXOX

Natalie had never felt so many conflicting emotions at once as she stepped out onto the auditorium stage.

Happiness, contentment, fear, pain, sadness, anger, calm all radiated from her heart, conflicting and almost painful in their simultaneous intensity. She could already feel the need to escape rising. Maybe it really would be better to just go do homework or something…

She could see a few faces in the darkness; obviously just some kids who had auditioned and wanted to see the competition or kids who were auditioning shortly. She smiled at the man sitting behind the piano, Brad, who gave her a small, encouraging smile in return and turned to face the teacher, a Mr. Shoe or something.

'Hi, my name is Natalie Tyer,' she spoke quietly. She could tell the teacher was straining to hear her, but she couldn't…wouldn't speak louder. 'I'll be singing Buses and Trains by Bachelor Girl.'

After singing a few lines so that the teacher could get a feel of her voice, quiet as it sounded, she stopped and waited for the verdict.

'Singing so soft I don't know if you'd get a lead part,' he began before Natalie interrupted.

'I don't particularly want one, sir,' she said quietly, but forcefully, looking up into the auditorium.

'Either way, it'd be a pleasure to have you in the club.'

Natalie had a feeling that it wasn't as much a pleasure as a 'I don't have enough' kind of thing.

XOXOXOXOXO

After heading out of the auditorium, Natalie headed out to her red, heavily tinted RX-8 and dumped her bag haphazardly into the back. She paused a moment before flicking on the car, once again taking time to be sure she knew were everything was and remembering the strange notion of clutch. Manuals never were her confidence point. Making her way out of the car park slightly faster than normal, she tried to escape the zoo that was this school and not for the last time wished she was back home.

The 30-40minute drive back out to the house her parents had brought was annoying. It was halfway between Lima and Westerville. She would never know why they needed to get this house. She assumed it was to keep her occupied, or to at least placate her. It never worked. Natalie pulled into the underground garage with a gentle purr and jumped out of the car, hanging her keys on the available key rack alongside about 4 others and shucked off her shoes next to the mat.

'Ah, Miss Tyler, welcome home,' greeted Riley, her family's butler as he reached over and took her jacket. He and his wife Terese had worked for their family for years, since Natalie was a baby and Terese worked as the housekeeper/nanny. They moved with the family, having none of their own, when her mum and dad offered them the continued work. They were more family to her than her parents ever were.

'Hey, Riley. Mum and Dad called out again?' she softly questioned in a noticeably fake-interested tone which made Riley's eyes soften.

'Your mother and father apologise, but they were called to Las Vegas for an urgent conference. They should be back within the week.'

Natalie sent a sad half-smile toward Riley who sighed, 'Terese has chocolate icecream and your favourite sandwich set out?'

'See, Terese knows what I need,' she whispered with a small grin, giving Riley a quick hug and running up the stairs to the ground floor and the kitchen. She flew straight into a hug with the graying woman.

Terese let out a soft chuckle, bringing her arms around the teen, 'Hello, mon cher. And how was your first day of highschool in America?' She asked in her warm, accented tone.

Natalie continued to speak softly, 'I swear that place is like a zoo, Terese,' she pouted softly, 'I don't like it at all.'

Terese smiled gently at Natalie as she pulled away. 'It will get better, ma chérie. Maybe if…you spoke up a bit? You never used to be this quiet and I haven't heard you sing for at least 2 months now…'

Natalie bit her lip and became even quieter, 'I can't.'

'Honey, I know its hard bu-'

'It's fine, Terese. It's j- ….look, I'm fine, ok?' Natalie bit her lip before grabbing the bowl of icecream, spoon and sandwich. I'm going to my room.'

Nat rushed through the wings and corridors of the house before pulling into her large gray, black and red themed room. She placed her food on the small glass coffee table near the couch and moved over to her desk, sitting on the black leather computer chair.

The desk was filled with pen pots with pens littering almost every spare surface. A new, top of the line computer sat on one side of it, a small graphics tablet well within reach. On the other side a series of notebooks were lined up with lined paper begging to be used.

Nat let a sad smile come to her face before beginning to pen her letter.

_Dearest Ben,_

_I certainly doesn't feel like a month…or is it two? I don't really remember and I don't suppose I care to. I hope you're ok, though. _

_My parents have once again filled the house and my trust with money and expensive gadgets and furniture. With all this room, you'd think we had 50 people living here. Their wing, my wing and a guest wing? As well as communal living areas? They just like showing off their money, its kinda sickening. _

_The school is a zoo, complete with skanks, head skanks and Neanderthals. It's amazing how crossing an ocean can take you back several thousand years of evolution._

_I hear everybody back in Aus is doing ok, if a bit rattled. We all were, I suppose. But knowing you, you're looking after them anyway. I probably have nothing to worry about, huh?_

_I love and miss you, sweetie. Life isn't the same without you. _

_Lots of Love, forever,_

_Nat. _

She let out a long breath before reaching over and grabbing some more stationary.

_Dearest Callie, _

_It's going on a month now, and I still wake up thinking I'll see you. I know it's silly, but I'm always still disappointed when I don't. _

_I miss you so, so much. It's my fault what happened. I'm torn between wanting your forgiveness and wanting you to hate me forever._

_But no matter what, you'll always be my best friend, and I love you._

_Nat_

_PS I signed up for Glee Club today, a kind of show choir. I know that you would want me to. I still barely talk and I certainly sing even less, but it's a step in the right direction, I suppose._

Carefully, Nat closed folded the expensive pieces of paper and placed Callie's into a beautifully patterned envelope, sealing it, and then placing the sealed letter into a small box she then put beneath her bed. She pushed Ben's into a more elegant envelope and put on a stamp ready to drop in the mailbox before heading to the couch and pulling her legs beneath her and switching on the TV to some reality show she had never watched and grabbing at her icecream.

Another day down.

Another couple of thousand left to go.

XOXOXOXO

The first rehearsal was…a disaster. Of epic proportions.

The song choice was horrid, the dancing even worse. Natalie cringed internally as she continued to sing quietly and dance with a definite lack of enthusiasm.

Why had this seemed like a good idea at the time?

Artie, a boy in a wheelchair, was a nice enough kid. He was a bit of a nerd, and certainly dressed like one, but he was really into Urban and all kinds of new age music. He hung around his friend, Tina. She was quiet and spoke with a stutter, but seemed to be a fairly nice girl.

Mercedes and Kurt were…divas. It was scary actually. They looked at everyone like they were better than them all, whilst complaining about everyone's apparent lack of fashion. Nat had looked over her clothes choice for the day, a pair of comfy jeans, boots and a block t-shirt, and felt slightly offended. Seriously, they were designer, just not something overly out there…

That Rachael Berry, however? Was something else. Nat couldn't help but want to punch the girl in the face. She viewed everyone as beneath her and only stepping stones to her apparently approaching fame. To tell the truth, it would be amazing if a casting director could afford to be in the same bloody room as her for longer than 5minutes.

'We suck.' Rachael said succinctly.

Nat couldn't help but agree, but instead of voicing her opinion, went to sit quietly next to Brad, their piano man and thanked him with a small smile before beginning to quietly play Heart and Soul with him, their hands jumping across the keys as Nat let out a small giggle.

Then Rachael stormed out, effectively ending the rehearsal as Mr. Shuester moved to other kids filtered out fast, eager to go elsewhere but Nat remained in place.

'Quieter than them.' Brad said in his rarely used deep voice.

'Yes, well, our past experiences shape us all,' Nat spoke just above a whisper, texting the same number as the other day about the inherent failure of the club before glancing back over to him with a smile.

'Know anything else?' he spoke before resuming his well-known silence as Nat moved slightly over to better reach the higher registers and began to play River Flows in You.

XOXOXOXO

Nat collapsed facedown on to her bed, her school bag falling to the ground with a noisy clatter, her treasured pens rolling out onto the floor.

'Ma chérie!' Terese yelled from a few rooms down, 'That better not have been your bag hitting that freshly cleaned floor!'

Nat just groaned before groping blindly off the edge of the bed and dragging her bag up on to the bed and grabbing the handful of pens that had escaped.

With a resigned sigh, she opened up her world history textbook and began the readings. School itself wasn't hard, just tedious. As her parents had travelled when she was young, she had gathered more and more tutors to keep her up with the various systems. She was already well ahead of her classes in the majority of subjects such as math, latin and chemistry however what was needed to have a knowledge of 'history' differed broadly from country to country.

It was almost like school wanted to give her something to do.

XOXOXOXO

Standing in a line listening to Finn the footy boy (who had obviously been dropped on the head multiple times, and not just as a child) and Rachael the primadonna bitch murdered 'You're the one that I want', was painful. Almost enough to want to make Nat burst her own eardrums. And the way Rachel tried to use 'sex appeal' was enough to make her nauseous.

But Kurt was right, it was better than they had sounded originally.

Then again, Mercedes was also right. Nat really hoped the loud and proud diva was going to get a solo soon, or Rachael might be a bit too dead to continue being Mr. Shue's go to.

Nat shared a look with Brad, one that clearly said, 'Please kill me.'

Brad hit a smile with great difficulty.

Later, when he played so softly her overly soft voice was able to be heard singing a quiet Hallelujah over the top, she sent him a grin so wide it lit up the room.

XOXOXO

Watching Camel high was like returning to the glory days. Every move synchronised, every harmony a purpose, all words perfect diction with a pitch perfect clarity.

New Directions didn't have that.

Compared to Vocal Adrenaline? New Directions was a baby speaking babble for the first time, or a piece of programming still working through Alpha tests. Vocal Adrenaline was a well-oiled, perfectly functioning machine. Not faults. Nat didn't think their mentality could handle a fault.

So when the rest of the New Directions just sat there just sat there with their mouths hanging open, Nat stood up, smoothing out the crinkles in her dress, before clapping enthusiastically for awhile before grabbing her bag and leaving quietly.

XOXOXOXO

Nat smiled to herself as she continued her letter to Callie:

_Mr. Shue (the Glee Director) totally has a thing for the guidance councillor, by the way. Despite the fact he has a wife, I get the feeling he has something massive with her, at least feeling wise. _

_You always did love those kinda forbidden love scenarios._

XOXOXOXO

Mr. Shue left, and what do you know, Finn grew balls and ACTUALLY kept the club together.

Who'd have thought, right?

When they broke out in that Journey number, Nat had to admit she felt something she hadn't in a while. During the simplistic but effective moves, she glanced over at Brad, who seemed to know exactly what she was feeling.

The music was growing in her again. Sure, she wasn't going to forget what happened, but maybe she could let herself enjoy this a little more.

And Nat wouldn't admit it out loud, but Mr. Shue clapping them afterwards? That was one of the best things she'd felt in quite the while.


	2. Chapter 2: Showmance

**The Wise Listen**

**AN:** I've been trying to keep these short so as to just write, but it did come to my attention that the second chapter was about half the size of the first. I would like to apologise for that, but the first chapter was a bit of an anomaly. Around 1.5-2k is my usual chapter length for these types of stories, they may vary beyond that due to inspiration levels, but 1.5k approx. is the minimum I will publish :)

And yea, I realise how massively long this wait was considering the quick update with the second, but I had major issues trying to decide the road Nat would take (as her in the way that I developed her character… and what it would take for you to commit to getting better the way she hadn't been.)

This is going to be incorporating some characters from CP Coulter's 'Dalton'. Though probably only as sorta fillers. I doubt there'll be much interaction compared with the interaction from the canon Glee characters.

P.S This one is nice and long as an apology lol

_Chapter 3: Acafellas_

XOXOXOXO

Nat was sitting in Art class, up in the back-left side. Today they were supposed to be working on their artwork their assignment that was due by the end of the week: Choice of your own mediums, a scene a bit like a photo. She glanced upwards at the clock. 2:45. 15minutes, she mused, better hurry.

In front of her sat a large A3 sheet with her own work on it. It was a highly realistic sketch of a couple resting on the hood of a stylish sports car overlooking the ocean, the girl was resting her head upon the other girl's shoulder, their hands clasped together as if afraid to let go. The background was a sunset.

Nat thought it looked very pretty. She smiled as she added some more shading to the car to give it a kind of metallic sheen, being careful to blow off any excess lead before signing her name in the corner.

She slipped it carefully into the large plastic protector as she collected her equipment and stood up, moving to grab her work before ripping her hand back in a nick of time.

A frenzy of apologies erupted from the klutz next to her as paint sloshed over where Nat had been working, including her submission. With a speed that was absent normally, Nat reached into the sleeve and ripped her art back out, just as the paint started to seep into the opening.

She looked over her art with a critical eye before sighing lightly as she realised she'd just made it and there was no bright red paint marring all her hard work.

Thank. God.

Nat smiled tightly at the girl, accepting her apology and quietly giving some helpful tips to the girl about her artwork before selecting a new sleeve and moving quickly to the teacher.

'All done?' He drawled, completely uninterested.

'Yes,' Nat replied, pursing her lips and readjusting her bag strap.

'Fine, you can go.' Nat let out a relieved sigh and gunned it out of there.

XOXOXOXOX

'And how have you been since I last saw you?'

Natalie shifted uncomfortably in the over-stuffed couch, hand fingers tapping on the arm as she looked out the window.

'Natalie?' The woman sighed, leaning forward in her own chair. 'I know that what happened was a traumatic event, but…' The woman almost looked regretful of what she was about to say, 'If you maintain your silence, he's won. It means he did what he wanted to and got away with what he did to you, to Calli. Do you really want that? Would _Calli_ want that?'

The woman watched as a tear rolled down the girl's pale cheek from shining eyes as the girl closed her eyes in a sorrowful expression.

'…N-n…no.' Natalie said, her voice rising to meet the woman's in volume.

The woman smiled, progress at last.

XOXOXOXOX

Nat executed the horrible moves with ease at the back of the room, the whole time avoiding Finn's klutzy feet with grace and pouting slightly as the moves seemed to get worse and worse. As Rachel stopped the rehearsal, Nat moved closer to Finn and showed him what he was doing wrong with his steps, helping him straighten them out until he wasn't a danger to others. As much…well, hopefully.

But eventually Nat caught onto what Rachael was talking about and suddenly? It felt like she'd stepped into a nightmare. Jeez, the moves weren't terrific but stopping him to suggest that…thing?

Bad, bad move.

Dakota Stanley. Unaffectionally known as 'It' to everyone who had had the misfortune of his horrific 'teaching' styles.

In Australia, Nat and her friend's small group had been selected to travel to America and learn from him after a hard competition. Paid for in full by the sponsors of the talent quest. He had been cruel and mean and vindictive and…every other bad word that she could think of! In fact, after one day? Their entire group decided to instead go explore New York (where they had been flown to) and watch some Broadway shows rather than show up again.

The guy was like the devil incarnate.

After the rehearsal (where the cheerleaders had backed up Rachel's idea…not suspicious at all…), Nat had run to catch up with the disappointed teacher.

'Mr. Shue?' she called as she ran up to him. Shue turned in surprise as he realised his quietest student was actually initiating conversation he could hear without a microphone, 'Is something the matter, Natalie?'

Nat winced at the use of her full name before continuing, 'I just thought I'd let you know that…I don't support Rachel's idea. I joined up to Glee for…fun, I guess. I've worked with Stanley before and all he is going to do is break those poor people into pieces so small you'll need a microscope.'

'He's…you've...You've worked with him before?'

Nat glanced sideways, 'Yea, he's a…he's a bit of a dick. Um, I just want you to know that if he shows up, I won't be attending Glee til he's gone. I'll be happy to re-join once he leaves though.' She hastily added when Shue started to look a bit upset to the loss of one of his few members.

'Right. So, what led to you working with him? I'm sorry to say but, you don't seem like the type to have casually run into someone like him. Though I must say, these last few days you've improved a lot and I can actually hear your part coming through. It's great to hear your voice.'

Nat grinned up at him, 'Thanks, Olivia has been a massive help and…I think things are looking up.'

She turned around before shooting him a bright smile over her shoulder, 'See you next class, Mr. Shue!'

It wasn't until she'd run off down the hall that he realised she hadn't answered his question.

XOXOXOXO

Over the next few weeks, Mr. Shue stopped showing up to the rehearsals. Nat heard some amazing A Capella, hip-hop sounding awesomeness coming from the teacher's lounge. It sounded hot.

Good for Mr. Shue, she supposed.

Rachel was getting annoyed he wasn't showing up, but it _was _kinda her fault. She basically singled him out and told him he sucked in front of his _students. _That can hurt a guy's feelings.

Their egos are really fragile.

It's a disturbing thing when Finn gets that faster than most. Seriously. _Finn._

XOXOXOXO

Sweet marshmallows of mercy! Nat's shock must have been showing on her face, because Terese lightly cuffed her across the head and she snapped her mouth shut with an almost audible sound.

Riley and Terese had been enjoying their night off at a bar (Nat thought it was some sorta sports bar. Whatever works for them, she supposed) and came back with a CD, simply entitled 'Meet the Acafellas'.

Now, when they told Nat she needed to listen, she'd just assumed they were good. Not that they were Mr. Shue's hip hop group.

And they were _good. _Like, _REALLY _good.

….why was he teaching again? He could be rocking…jeez Broadway or the top 40 charts or SOMETHING! ANYTHING! This was a _serious _waste of talent! People should be _crying _from this loss to the music industry!

Nat knew plenty of girls back in Australia that would totally tap whoever made those sounds, no matter how old the person making it was.

Girls in Australia just loved the voice, honestly. Sure, there were some real cute people over the ocean, but not that many had a bloody voice to match.

XOXOXOX

Nat had originally refused to go to the Vocal Adrenaline rehearsal, but had changed her mind quickly under duress. Mercedes had prepared drag her into Kurt's (not too bad looking) 4WD before Nat had promised to follow in her own car if they let her drive it, saying while her parents wouldn't care too much, she didn't feel comfortable leaving her car in the car park after school hours

They looked rather surprised when she got into the Sky Blue Chevrolet Corvette, put the top down and carelessly threw her bag into the back seat. She noticed their slack jaws and simply eyed them off before honking impatiently and revving her engine.

Upon arrival she locked her car before grabbing her bag and jumping out, only to be surrounded by cheerleaders.

'Where'd you get a car like that from, Midget Mute?' Santana asked, leaning over to look at the car.

'…t-the dealership, I guess. And seriously, mute? I have never been a mute.' She stuttered, but glaring up at her in a way that showed confidence.

'And you could afford this?'

Nat glanced around for anyone that could save her from the inquisition. No such luck. She decided to hedge her bets instead. 'No…but my dad could.'

'Your dad just brought you a brand new Chevrolet?'

'Well, my whole family uses it so…'

'Whatever, you're driving me home.'

Nat's eyes widened at Santana's tone of finality before nodding quickly. Anything to get her away from her _now. _

'Guys! That's Andrea Collin, she won most outstanding soloist last year…' Rachel continued to jabber but Nat's head flicked up in horror.

Shit. Andrea, she'd forgotten about her.

When Andrea looked up, Nat made frenzied motion when she looked like she was about to say hi. Thankfully, Drea got the message and kept her mouth shut. Nat sent her a smile, wave and hello as they passed her on the way into the auditorium.

XOXOXOX

As per usual, their moves were clean cut, their harmonies perfectly synchronised and the overall performance pleasing to the senses that mattered in a show choir performance. Nat _had _seen better, but those people hadn't been pushed so close to the brink of exhaustion that they were puking side stage.

While the rest of the Glee Kids were watching in some kind of horror/shock/amazement, Nat snuck side stage to where Vocal Adrenaline were having their only half an hour break.

'Drea!' she called as she approached the girl, who crushed her into a hug.

'Oh. My. God. Nat, I heard about what happened. You're ok right? I mean, if I'd known you were here I would have visited or something!'

Nat smiled sadly, 'I'm getting there, I guess.'

Andrea nodded slowly, 'I heard you don't sing anymore. Is that true?'

Nat coughed self-consciously, 'Well, I'm in the glee club at McKinley, but I background vocal so...'

'Well, I was also told you hadn't been talking, I'm glad you've moved on from that.'

'Yea, Riley and Terese have been a massive help. Olivia says that the fact I'm speaking normally again is a sure sign of recovery.'

'That's good, sweetie, I missed you at those competitions,' Andrea smiled at the short girl, 'It's been almost 9months, we were worried we'd never hear your sarcastic voice again. How's Ben, Ryan, Dean and Kate handling things?'

'Ben's doing what he does best, looking after the others to a fault' the two girls shared a quiet laugh before Drea glanced nervously behind her.

'I have to go, or else Stanley's going to eat me alive.'

'We all warned you about him…'

'It was the school, not us! He's insane but they want us to win. Give the school some fame.'

Nat frowned before scribbling something down, 'Here's my new phone numbers and address, pop round sometime.' She grinned before making her way back to the other New Directions, who all looked at her strange, but thankfully didn't seem to have noticed her with Andrea.

That wouldn't have gone down well.

XOXOXOXOX

'Hi! I'ma a midget who can't get lead in broadway that charges over 8 grand for my bloody services,' Nat continued to mutter insults as the New Directions stalked their way back to their cars.

'Whatever, Mute, he's better than you'll ever be. I don't even know why Mr. Shue let you in, the whole point of Glee is to, you know, sing.' Santana responded snidely as they reached the parking lot.

'Yea, you seem a bit angry there, Midget. You're not that tall yourself, try not to walk under our legs by accident.' Quinn commented snidely as she slid toward her own car.

Nat's eyes widened in disbelief and slight anger as she looked at the cheerleaders.

'What, and you guys believe that?' she questioned, a bit angrily as she looked at the closest people she had to friends at school apart from Brad…who was more like an older brother.

'Your musical contributions do leave a bit to be desired...' Kurt agreed regretfully.

Nat looked at Kurt slightly betrayed, having thought that if anyone knew what it was like to be singled out cos you were different, it'd be him. 'My lack of contributions are mostly due to me actually attempting to help Finn learn to move his feet rather than yelling at him when they don't move the right way at the right time. I figured helping the guy would be more productive than joining in your petty arguments about song choice and lead vocals.'

She turned back to Santana, 'Also, I _can _dance and have been doing it for a lifetime longer than you have. I'veworked with Stanley before and quite frankly, I would find sticking rusty needles through my eyes and under my nails more enjoyable. But I guess…as Santana said, it's not like I do anything. I don't know why I joined in the first place. I'll leave you guys to find someone better.'

Nat flung herself around and stalked back towards her car, throwing the car into gear as she tore out of the parking lot and sped to about halfway to her house before just pulling over to the side of the road and sitting there for awhile.

It was just like before, people just standing by and watching the bullies. It was worse now because even the other victims didn't try to help, unlike when it had occurred in Oz.

With a sad smile, Nat typed a short message to Calli and then another to Riley before turning her phone off and throwing it into the recesses of the car.

She fiddled with the controls of the car again before moving off the side of the road and speeding down the empty highway. She didn't take the turn-off to her house, instead continuing down to Westerville with her hair dancing through the wind. She checked the time, registering it as close to 1am after waiting all that time for Stanley.

She sighed, knowing she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night with all the memories rushing through her head about her group back in Australia.

God, she missed them.

As she finally reached Westerville, she drove around aimlessly for awhile before her eyes settled on a 24hr café. She parked her car beside 2 or 3 others, grabbed her book bag and went inside.

Dragging her feet up to the counter she reached into her bag for her wallet as the woman working that night moved over, 'One grande, Italian hot chocolate. Extra cream, extra chocolate on top…and if you could add some caffeine shots to that, I'd really appreciate it… Oh, and one of…those,' she finished, gesturing at some muffins in the window.

She zoned out while the woman completed her order and moved over to a booth, clutching her drink like a lifeline. She sipped at it while running over her latin work, ensuring she was still on top of it.

She was mouthing the words to herself as she ran down the list of words when she noticed a shape sliding into the booth on the opposite side, placing books of their own on the table.

Nat looked up with a raised eyebrow as she took in the African-american teen, dressed in pressed slacks and a long sleeved, button-up shirt. He had a loosened tie and a blazer that he dropped beside him. 'Hi?' she questioned, glancing to the side and confirming that there were plenty of other empty booths.

'Hey,' he smiled. 'David.' He introduced as he extended his hand to her, which she gripped warily.

'Nat.'

'I promise I'm not here to abduct you.' He grinned easily as he finished pulling what looked like physics books out of his bag.

'That's nice to know,' Nat responded, still on her guard.

He lowered his voice as he glanced at the patrons on the other side of the café, 'I'm not usually out this late, but I need to study for this test tomorrow and my dorm was being…uncooperative. To be honest, those guys over there look scary,' he admitted sheepishly.

Nat grimaced with agreement as she finished the dregs of her caffeinated hot chocolate, staring into space for a minute, deep in thought.

Olivia said that Calli would want this, right? Nat thought back to the bubbly blonde and smiled. Yes, she would. In fact, Calli would slap her for how she'd been acting these last few months. Nat looked at the boy across from her and rose from her seat, grabbing her purse again, 'you want something?'

'Whatever is the strongest they have,' he frowned as he looked over what Nat assumed were his notes.

Nat raised her eyebrow before going and ordering two of what she just had. She slapped it down beside him, sliding back into the booth and taking a refreshing sip of hers just as he groaned in pleasure at the hit of caffeine before looking at her. 'I doubt this is the strongest.'

'It's hot chocolate with caffeine shots. It tastes much better than the strongest coffee and keeps you awake just as well. Besides, you looked like you needed something a bit sweeter.'

He nodded, 'Yea, you're right,' he said, sliding over his share of the cost, which pushed back, shaking her head.

'Keep it, you can buy the next round.' The boy agreed before hunching over his books.

'So what brings you here?' he muttered distractedly as he made some notes in neat shorthand.

'Bad memories keeping me up. Figured I'd make use of it.'

'Nightmares get the best of all of us, I guess. You talk about em to anyone? I swear it helps.'

'Heh, I have a therapist.' Nat responded grimly, keeping her head down.

David on the other hand paused in his revision, looking up in concern, 'That bad, huh?'

He took Nat's silence as her answer and was concerned as he saw a glistening tear strike her carefully written notes.

'Look, I know I look like a creeper right now, but sometimes talking to someone you aren't around all the time can be a bigger help than someone being paid to care.'

Nat looked up at him a half-smile on her face as she raised an eyebrow, 'Why? Volunteering?'

'If you want,' he shrugged self-consciously. 'I've been through it myself. You don't have to talk about…whatever it is. But if you ever need to talk to someone, I'm happy to lend an ear.'

'That's sweet of you, David, but I dunno about airing my secrets to someone I've just met…'

'Then don't.' He smiled again, 'Let me be your friend then, you look like you need one.'

Nat laughed in disbelief, 'Thanks?'

'You know what I mean.' He rubbed the back of his neck as Nat kept giggling into her hand, her eyes alight with mischief.

She pushed her own books to the edge of the table sliding around til she was sitting next to him looking over his notes, 'Speed and Velocity?'

'Yea, it's not that it's hard to understand but I have issues putting theory into practice,' he muttered again as he punched numbers into his calculator and groaned. 'Damn it, wrong again.'

'Surely it isn't worth staying up all night before a test for?'

'I'm not putting my high GPA at stake for a little sleep.'

Nat glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, speed reading through his notes before finally picking up her own notepad and pencil. 'Teach me.'

David paused, turning to face her, 'Sorry?'

'Teach me how to do it,' Nat insisted as she looked at him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'…Didn't I just say I can't do it myself?'

'I reckon you probably can, all you need to do is put it into your own words. Research has proven that you discover new ways to do things and understand better when you attempt to explain the subject to someone else.'

David still looked sceptical but at her steadfast expression relented, 'Ok, but only for a bit, and if it hasn't worked I go back to freaking out over my other notes.'

'Sure, but you won't need to.'

David rolled his eyes at her confidence before starting to explain the theories and ways of solving the problems to the otherwise scientifically-challenged girl. But after about an hour his eyes lit up and without explanation started scribbling down numbers at some ridiculous pace. Nat stared at his page bemused before he turned and hugged her, 'You are _amazing!_'

Nat's eyes widened as she tried to remain breathing normally, 'I- I know. I- I take it it worked then?'

'Yes! It makes so much more sense now! I can't believe I'd been missing that!'

Nat laughed as she slid around to the other side of the table again before beginning to stand up. 'I need another drink…want one?'

'Ugh, please,' David said, pushing across some money for his shout before returning to his practice questions where he'd started redoing them all to ensure he was finally getting it right.

Nat returned again and sat flicking the pages of history book for a while as she ensured she knew everything she'd need to for the pop quiz the teacher would be holding soon (her history teacher was so very transparent…).

'So, you go Crawford?' David asked as he pushed his notes away from him with slight disgust, instead grabbing his coffee and leaning back against the booth. Clearly time for a break, Nat thought to herself.

'Nah, I could have but…I dunno, I wanted to keep going at public school for awhile.'

'And how's that working out for you?' David inquired, raising his eyebrow.

'Like shit.' Nat said bluntly taking a huge glup of liquid gold.

'What public school could you possibly be going to if you live in Westerville? The only one I know is for the kids from Juvvie.'

'I live halfway between here and Lima, I go to McKinley at the moment.' Nat responded, relaxing into the warm conversation David provided.

'Jesus, I heard that place is the hotel for jerks. I go to Dalton myself.'

'Jesus, I heard that place is the hotel for dappers.' Nat grinned at him to show she was just teasing. 'Sometimes I wish I'd just decided to go to Crawford. Nothing much is happening to keep me around McKinley at the moment.'

'Then why not move?' David leaned forward, 'Any person that far ahead in Latin would be welcomed with open arms to the Crawford-Dalton schools.'

Nat shot him a grin, 'Can't move mid-year, that'd suck drastically. I'm thinking I'll stick it out until the end of this year, switch over to Crawford County Day A.S.A.P. And the Latin…I just love languages. Latin was the only one McKinley offered I hadn't already learnt.'

'Oh?' David shot her a look of surprise, 'what ones do you know?'

'Uh…' Nat frowned, 'Italian, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic…Latin of course,' she continued gesturing to her books, 'I know a bit of Portuguese as well.'

David stared at her in shock, 'I can barely keep up my A in French.'

'I'd be happy to tutor,' Nat teased, 'My dad's work took him across the world and when I was little they took me with them. We moved to Spain when I was 2 and spent 3 years there, then we spent 2 years in Italy, 2 in Germany, 1 in Brazil…I believe 2 in Japan, 1 in China…I learnt French from our housekeeper, Terese, who is from Paris and I learnt Arabic from one of my father's board member's wives who used to look after me sometimes. I was just exposed to so many different languages when I was young enough to learn them quickly. I guess I was lucky in that way.'

'Ah, my parent's just dropped me off at boarding school as soon I was old enough. When I was travelling with them we just frequented England and Australia more than anywhere foreign. I remember some places in Europe, but we were never really there for longer than 2 months at most.'

'What do your parents do?' Nat asked, curious as to why he was moved around so much.

'Oh, just corporate stuff, but they're very good at it.' David rolled his eyes, 'Yours?'

'Dad started off with a stock broker company…now he has his thumb in basically every pie available.'

David snorted slightly and glanced at his watch, 'Oh jesus…4 am…' he rubbed his face with his hand before drinking the drink like it was a lifeline. 'What kind of hot chocolate is this, by the way?…it's a godsend and amazing and I do not understand why I have never had it before. It's like having coffee that actually tastes nice.'

Nat rattled off the contents with a speed and familiarity David found himself in slight frightened of, 'Grande, Italian hot chocolate with extra caffeine shots and extra cream. This batch had 3 shots of caffeine. I think.'

David held his cup in front of him, looking at it with a newfound appreciation. 'So this is like a night's sleep in a cup.'

'Yep.'

'And I've had…?

'3.'

'Right. So I won't be sleeping for?'

'First time I had that many? Almost 2 days. But I've built up a tolerance.'

'Ok then.'

They chatted aimlessly for awhile as the light came up outside and the woman behind the counter was replaced with the morning shift.

'Hey, can I grab your number?' Nat asked suddenly.

'Definitely.' David said, rattling off some numbers that Nat scrawled into the top of her book before giving him hers.

Gathering their things and making their way out front, Nat stopped and looked at David for a bit before pulling him down into a massive hug and whispering into his ear, 'Thank you. You have no idea how much you helped.'

She smiled and moved over to her car, reaching behind her and retrieving her phone to punch in David's number before she forgot and then calling Riley.

'Hello?'

'Bonjour,' Nat winced as he started ranting at her, only to be interrupted as his wife decided she could do a better job at it.

'Sorry, its just…last night I…there was just…I needed to sit and think. I met a nice guy and he helped me heaps. I'm feeling better than I have in a long time, more…myself I guess.'

'That's nice, mon cher, but if you ever decide to text 'I won't be home tonight' to us again, _DO NOT TURN YOUR PHONE OFF AFTERWARDS!'_

Nat yanked her phone from her ear as Terese screamed into the phone. 'Um, I'll just head straight to school, they have showers there and I have spare clothes in my bag. So, I'll see you guys when I get home.'

She shut down the phone and sped off to school, arriving almost an hour earlier than she usually did, moving into the girl's gym locker rooms and having a quick wash before changing into a grey woollen dress with a black shawl and fixing her hair into a French braid as she left the locker rooms and moved towards her own lockers for her algebra books for her first class.

'Hey! Natalie!' Nat groaned slightly as she turned around with a patient smile on her face.

'Yea, Artie?'

'Is it true you quit Glee Club?' He asked, actually looking rather upset.

Natalie cleared her throat slightly before matching him in volume, which brought a smile to his face before it flooded with disappointment, 'Yes, it is. I'm not an asset to the team and I wasn't really enjoying it anyway.'

'Man, whose going to help me with my moves now?' Artie teased.

'I'm sure you can manage to add in your own spins and wheelies.' Nat laughed as she arranged her locker.

'Well…what are you doing now? Have you joined another club or something?' He asked, reaching in a locker below hers and to the left, his own locker.

'Nah, Glee was the only club I was in. But I guess now I'll have more of a chance to focus on my own artwork. Submit to some competitions like Mr. Leon was hinting at.'

'Whatever the cheerios said, you realise this is what they want, right? Us leaving the club?'

'I know, I know, they're just covering for their own insecurities but...I had already talked to Mr. Shue about this the other day. Especially now Rachel is bringing in Stanley to choreograph.'

'…Well if you're sure,' he frowned before grinning up at her, 'hey, I never thanked you for that Youtube link! It was you doing that dance with the guy in the wheelchair, right?'

Natalie winked, 'Maybe. It took while to get the jumps and lifts right…' she mused as she shut the locker and lent against it.

'I can imagine, it was real cool when you did the handstand on his hands and he held you up like that.'

'Yea, Derek was an amazing dancer before his accident. He just refused to give up. I felt safer with him lifting me than I ever felt being lifted by my mate Ben.' Nat laughed as she looked at Artie, 'No reason you can't be the same way. Tell you what, if you're interested I'll help you still, after school or something on the days you don't have glee.'

'Oh yea, definitely.' Artie grinned at her, 'Thanks again, Natalie.'

'Not a problem! Gotta run though!' She called as she dodged through the crowds to her class.

XOXOXOXO

According to Brad, Stanley broke them within 5 min but they managed to find a backbone so fast he was gone 5min after that. It was really quite impressive.

Nat smiled as she passed the glee room during Rachel's pep talk. It was really sweet and made up easily for the fact that the girl usually dug into her about her usual lack of vocal volume.

'We already lost Nat…I don't want to lose you guys too.'

Nat closed her eyes and lent against the wall, peeking around and catching Brad's eye from where he sat, ready to be called on, and smiled.

XOXOXOXO

BOOM!

Nat sat bolt upright from where she had been leaning on her folded arms and gave a startled cry. 'Oh my god, oh my god.'

Then she noticed David, still working on his French (which she had been helping him on, being true to her word), having not battered an eye.

'Ah, David, something your end just _blew up_.'

David raised an eyebrow as he looked behind him to his partially open door, seeing Blaine hand off a fire extinguisher to a sooty-faced Drew. 'Oh, that? Just Drew and Satoru. Happens all the time.'

Nat's eye twitched slightly as she took in his perfectly calm expression before shrugging and returning to her prior position.

'So…if I was to say,' David spoke some 'french', asking for her input.

'I'd respond with, 'I think you left the bar in the land of make-believe and took a wrong turn.'. That sounded _nothing _like French, mate. The Eiffel Tower is wilting from disappointment right now.'

'Ugh,' David smashed his head onto the table. 'I swear, I don't know what's wrong at the moment. I'm not usually this off with my pronounciation.'

'Yea, you've had me listen to your garbled French for 2 hours now. I'm about to hit a wall. You're trying too hard! Relax, let it roll from your tongue like the tacky showtunes you lot favour or something,' she muttered into her arms before raising her head and pausing.

'Uh, David?'

'What?'

'Not to…ah…alarm you or anything, but…umm…'

David fixed her with a puzzled look, 'What, Nat?'

'Behind you, mate. Behind you.'

'Wha-' Nat's eyes widened as her new friend was smashed by Nerf bullets from what looked like customised guns. In the arms of identical twins.

'TWEEDLES!'

David chased them out of his room, running after them with what looked like a bat of some kind.

Nat stared at the now empty webcam view before turning away to grab some of her own work. She turned back to the screen and screamed in fright as the entirety of the view was now filled with two huge blue eyes. Each from a different person.

'H-holy shit,' she stuttered as she trembled. The blonde-haired twins hat were the original reason for David's abrupt exit stood back from the camera, instead choosing to lean onto David's desk with their heads resting on their hands. They stared at her awhile longer before they shared a look. When they looked at her again, their eyes seemed to have brightened even more.

'Hello, Talking Flower.' One of them smiled creepily.

Nat looked at them slightly strangely, 'Ah, Talking Flower?'

'Mhm, I see you've been getting to know our hatter.' The other mentioned. His brother and himself where staring at her like they knew someth-…nah, not possible.

'Right…well, David is evidently busy so, uh, I'll just be going.'

'You sure you don't want to stay awhile longer, Talking Flower?'

'Nat!' her father called from his study via the intercom. She sighed and groaned as she banged her head on the desk. 'No, no I do not. I've actually gotta go.'

The twins looked on with interest as she leaned forward over her desk to reach the intercom system, accidently giving the two ample view into her top. 'Yes, father?'

'I need to talk to you, please come to my office.'

Nat raised an eyebrow as the system clicked off. 'Ok then…Um, well I have to go, so tell David I'll talk to him soon, I guess.'

The twins gave identical Chershire Cat smiles that had Nat looking at the curiously, 'Of course, flower. Thanks for the lovely view.'

They clicked off Skype too fast for her to respond but Nat sat for a second wondering what…Oh shit. She stared at the awkward placement of the intercom in relation to her computer and glared at it for a while before quickly exiting her room.

Nat made her way down the stairs and down the corridor to her father's study, knocking tentatively on the doorframe.

'You called?'

'Yes, take a seat.' Mr. Tyler responded, standing and rearranging some papers into a filing cabinet.

Mr. Tyler was an unassuming man. In his late 40s, he had thick rimmed, square glasses perched on his nose and was a little on the chubby side. He always wore a suit with a double-wilson tie which was always a block of bright colour to offset his usual black or grey suits. His shoes shined, and his slightly-greying brunette hair was always carefully tamed. It never really looked that different to every office worker but if you looked into his eyes, you saw a burning fire of dedication and ambition that made him so successful.

To Nat, he was just the ever-absent father.

'Now, I want you to look over the recent changes to your mother and I's will. We want to make sure that if anything happens…'

'The family business and fortune cannot be taken away from us under any circumstance, I know father.'

Mr. Tyler smiled softly at his daughter with a small amount of sadness. He knew he hadn't been the best father to her, but he was proud of the woman she was growing up to be. Talented at business and already able to proof-read documents for him, she was his final checkpoint. After the lawyers, the other board members and the major stakeholders had looked through any changes, he pushed them onto Natalie, as she had picked up subtle changes to the documents that would have left him ruined more than once.

Nat received the altered document with a small frown. It was much thinner than previous.

'I simplified a lot of my hopes for some of the money,' he offered in way of explanation.

'Of course,' Nat murmured, flicking her way through the pages before putting it down on her legs, 'And father? I was wondering about possibly changing schools at the end of the year. McKinley isn't as challenging as I hoped and I feel that Crawford, Dalton's sister school, may have more to offer in way of Arts and Languages.'

Mr. Tyler pursed his lips, 'I thought you ruled that out when you moved here.'

'Yes, I did. But I feel that it was…incorrect of me to rule it out as an option so early. I feel as though I have cheated myself out of a better education.'

Mr. Tyler considered the idea for a moment before nodding, 'If you can get me the forms, I'll sign them before I head out again and you can just fill in the other information yourself.'

Natalie nodded as she stood and moved to the door, pausing in the frame and looking back over her shoulder, 'I love you, daddy.'

'Of course you do, Nat. Oh, and Nat? If you find nothing wrong with that will, keep it in a safe place. Your own copy, in case something happens.'

Nat sighed deeply as she clutched the documents to her chest and nodded. 'Yes, father.'

XOXOXOX

Meh, I didn't know where to cut it. That seemed good enough x.x Hopefully I didn't move too fast with Nat speaking up again. I just figured that Olivia using Calli would be something Nat responded to very fast. I don't know if you guys have worked out enough to know that would be enough or not, but I thought it worked XD


	3. Chapter 3: Acafellas

**The Wise Listen**

**AN:** I've been trying to keep these short so as to just write, but it did come to my attention that the second chapter was about half the size of the first. I would like to apologise for that, but the first chapter was a bit of an anomaly. Around 1.5-2k is my usual chapter length for these types of stories, they may vary beyond that due to inspiration levels, but 1.5k approx. is the minimum I will publish :)

And yea, I realise how massively long this wait was considering the quick update with the second, but I had major issues trying to decide the road Nat would take (as her in the way that I developed her character… and what it would take for you to commit to getting better the way she hadn't been.)

I've reposted this like, 3 times now, because I realise I had something in here that doesn't fit with what I've written before/am writing now. Gah.

P.S This one is nice and long as an apology lol

_Chapter 3: Acafellas_

XOXOXOXO

Nat was sitting in Art class, up in the back-left side. Today they were supposed to be working on their artwork their assignment that was due by the end of the week: Choice of your own mediums, a scene a bit like a photo. She glanced upwards at the clock. 2:45. 15minutes, she mused, better hurry.

In front of her sat a large A3 sheet with her own work on it. It was a highly realistic sketch of a couple resting on the hood of a stylish sports car overlooking the ocean, the girl was resting her head upon the other girl's shoulder, their hands clasped together as if afraid to let go. The background was a sunset.

Nat thought it looked very pretty. She smiled as she added some more shading to the car to give it a kind of metallic sheen, being careful to blow off any excess lead before signing her name in the corner.

She slipped it carefully into the large plastic protector as she collected her equipment and stood up, moving to grab her work before ripping her hand back in a nick of time.

A frenzy of apologies erupted from the klutz next to her as paint sloshed over where Nat had been working, including her submission. With a speed that was absent normally, Nat reached into the sleeve and ripped her art back out, just as the paint started to seep into the opening.

She looked over her art with a critical eye before sighing lightly as she realised she'd just made it and there was no bright red paint marring all her hard work.

Thank. God.

Nat smiled tightly at the girl, accepting her apology and quietly giving some helpful tips to the girl about her artwork before selecting a new sleeve and moving quickly to the teacher.

'All done?' He drawled, completely uninterested.

'Yes,' Nat replied, pursing her lips and readjusting her bag strap.

'Fine, you can go.' Nat let out a relieved sigh and gunned it out of there.

XOXOXOXOX

'And how have you been since I last saw you?'

Natalie shifted uncomfortably in the over-stuffed couch, hand fingers tapping on the arm as she looked out the window.

'Natalie?' The woman sighed, leaning forward in her own chair. 'I know that what happened was a traumatic event, but…' The woman almost looked regretful of what she was about to say, 'If you maintain your silence, he's won. It means he did what he wanted to and got away with what he did to you, to Calli. Do you really want that? Would _Calli_ want that?'

The woman watched as a tear rolled down the girl's pale cheek from shining eyes as the girl closed her eyes in a sorrowful expression.

'…N-n…no.' Natalie said, her voice rising to meet the woman's in volume.

The woman smiled, progress at last.

XOXOXOXOX

Nat executed the horrible moves with ease at the back of the room, the whole time avoiding Finn's klutzy feet with grace and pouting slightly as the moves seemed to get worse and worse. As Rachel stopped the rehearsal, Nat moved closer to Finn and showed him what he was doing wrong with his steps, helping him straighten them out until he wasn't a danger to others. As much…well, hopefully.

But eventually Nat caught onto what Rachael was talking about and suddenly? It felt like she'd stepped into a nightmare. Jeez, the moves weren't terrific but stopping him to suggest that…thing?

Bad, bad move.

Dakota Stanley. Unaffectionally known as 'It' to everyone who had had the misfortune of his horrific 'teaching' styles.

In Australia, Nat and her friend's small group had been selected to travel to America and learn from him after a hard competition. Paid for in full by the sponsors of the talent quest. He had been cruel and mean and vindictive and…every other bad word that she could think of! In fact, after one day? Their entire group decided to instead go explore New York (where they had been flown to) and watch some Broadway shows rather than show up again.

The guy was like the devil incarnate.

After the rehearsal (where the cheerleaders had backed up Rachel's idea…not suspicious at all…), Nat had run to catch up with the disappointed teacher.

'Mr. Shue?' she called as she ran up to him. Shue turned in surprise as he realised his quietest student was actually initiating conversation he could hear without a microphone, 'Is something the matter, Natalie?'

Nat winced at the use of her full name before continuing, 'I just thought I'd let you know that…I don't support Rachel's idea. I joined up to Glee for…fun, I guess. I've worked with Stanley before and all he is going to do is break those poor people into pieces so small you'll need a microscope.'

'He's…you've...You've worked with him before?'

Nat glanced sideways, 'Yea, he's a…he's a bit of a dick. Um, I just want you to know that if he shows up, I won't be attending Glee til he's gone. I'll be happy to re-join once he leaves though.' She hastily added when Shue started to look a bit upset to the loss of one of his few members.

'Right. So, what led to you working with him? I'm sorry to say but, you don't seem like the type to have casually run into someone like him. Though I must say, these last few days you've improved a lot and I can actually hear your part coming through. It's great to hear your voice.'

Nat grinned up at him, 'Thanks, Olivia has been a massive help and…I think things are looking up.'

She turned around before shooting him a bright smile over her shoulder, 'See you next class, Mr. Shue!'

It wasn't until she'd run off down the hall that he realised she hadn't answered his question.

XOXOXOXO

Over the next few weeks, Mr. Shue stopped showing up to the rehearsals. Nat heard some amazing A Capella, hip-hop sounding awesomeness coming from the teacher's lounge. It sounded hot.

Good for Mr. Shue, she supposed.

Rachel was getting annoyed he wasn't showing up, but it _was _kinda her fault. She basically singled him out and told him he sucked in front of his _students. _That can hurt a guy's feelings.

Their egos are really fragile.

It's a disturbing thing when Finn gets that faster than most. Seriously. _Finn._

XOXOXOXO

Sweet marshmallows of mercy! Nat's shock must have been showing on her face, because Terese lightly cuffed her across the head and she snapped her mouth shut with an almost audible sound.

Riley and Terese had been enjoying their night off at a bar (Nat thought it was some sorta sports bar. Whatever works for them, she supposed) and came back with a CD, simply entitled 'Meet the Acafellas'.

Now, when they told Nat she needed to listen, she'd just assumed they were good. Not that they were Mr. Shue's hip hop group.

And they were _good. _Like, _REALLY _good.

….why was he teaching again? He could be rocking…jeez Broadway or the top 40 charts or SOMETHING! ANYTHING! This was a _serious _waste of talent! People should be _crying _from this loss to the music industry!

Nat knew plenty of girls back in Australia that would totally tap whoever made those sounds, no matter how old the person making it was.

Girls in Australia just loved the voice, honestly. Sure, there were some real cute people over the ocean, but not that many had a bloody voice to match.

XOXOXOX

Nat had originally refused to go to the Vocal Adrenaline rehearsal, but had changed her mind quickly under duress. Mercedes had prepared drag her into Kurt's (not too bad looking) 4WD before Nat had promised to follow in her own car if they let her drive it, saying while her parents wouldn't care too much, she didn't feel comfortable leaving her car in the car park after school hours

They looked rather surprised when she got into the Sky Blue Chevrolet Corvette, put the top down and carelessly threw her bag into the back seat. She noticed their slack jaws and simply eyed them off before honking impatiently and revving her engine.

Upon arrival she locked her car before grabbing her bag and jumping out, only to be surrounded by cheerleaders.

'Where'd you get a car like that from, Midget Mute?' Santana asked, leaning over to look at the car.

'…t-the dealership, I guess. And seriously, mute? I have never been a mute.' She stuttered, but glaring up at her in a way that showed confidence.

'And you could afford this?'

Nat glanced around for anyone that could save her from the inquisition. No such luck. She decided to hedge her bets instead. 'No…but my dad could.'

'Your dad just brought you a brand new Chevrolet?'

'Well, my whole family uses it so…'

'Whatever, you're driving me home.'

Nat's eyes widened at Santana's tone of finality before nodding quickly. Anything to get her away from her _now. _

'Guys! That's Andrea Collin, she won most outstanding soloist last year…' Rachel continued to jabber but Nat's head flicked up in horror.

Shit. Andrea, she'd forgotten about her.

When Andrea looked up, Nat made frenzied motion when she looked like she was about to say hi. Thankfully, Drea got the message and kept her mouth shut. Nat sent her a smile, wave and hello as they passed her on the way into the auditorium.

XOXOXOX

As per usual, their moves were clean cut, their harmonies perfectly synchronised and the overall performance pleasing to the senses that mattered in a show choir performance. Nat _had _seen better, but those people hadn't been pushed so close to the brink of exhaustion that they were puking side stage.

While the rest of the Glee Kids were watching in some kind of horror/shock/amazement, Nat snuck side stage to where Vocal Adrenaline were having their only half an hour break.

'Drea!' she called as she approached the girl, who crushed her into a hug.

'Oh. My. God. Nat, I heard about what happened. You're ok right? I mean, if I'd known you were here I would have visited or something!'

Nat smiled sadly, 'I'm getting there, I guess.'

Andrea nodded slowly, 'I heard you don't sing anymore. Is that true?'

Nat coughed self-consciously, 'Well, I'm in the glee club at McKinley, but I background vocal so...'

'Well, I was also told you hadn't been talking, I'm glad you've moved on from that.'

'Yea, Riley and Terese have been a massive help. Olivia says that the fact I'm speaking normally again is a sure sign of recovery.'

'That's good, sweetie, I missed you at those competitions,' Andrea smiled at the short girl, 'It's been almost 9months, we were worried we'd never hear your sarcastic voice again. How's Ben, Ryan, Dean and Kate handling things?'

'Ben's doing what he does best, looking after the others to a fault' the two girls shared a quiet laugh before Drea glanced nervously behind her.

'I have to go, or else Stanley's going to eat me alive.'

'We all warned you about him…'

'It was the school, not us! He's insane but they want us to win. Give the school some fame.'

Nat frowned before scribbling something down, 'Here's my new phone numbers and address, pop round sometime.' She grinned before making her way back to the other New Directions, who all looked at her strange, but thankfully didn't seem to have noticed her with Andrea.

That wouldn't have gone down well.

XOXOXOXOX

'Hi! I'ma a midget who can't get lead in broadway that charges over 8 grand for my bloody services,' Nat continued to mutter insults as the New Directions stalked their way back to their cars.

'Whatever, Mute, he's better than you'll ever be. I don't even know why Mr. Shue let you in, the whole point of Glee is to, you know, sing.' Santana responded snidely as they reached the parking lot.

'Yea, you seem a bit angry there, Midget. You're not that tall yourself, try not to walk under our legs by accident.' Quinn commented snidely as she slid toward her own car.

Nat's eyes widened in disbelief and slight anger as she looked at the cheerleaders.

'What, and you guys believe that?' she questioned, a bit angrily as she looked at the closest people she had to friends at school apart from Brad…who was more like an older brother.

'Your musical contributions do leave a bit to be desired...' Kurt agreed regretfully.

Nat looked at Kurt slightly betrayed, having thought that if anyone knew what it was like to be singled out cos you were different, it'd be him. 'My lack of contributions are mostly due to me actually attempting to help Finn learn to move his feet rather than yelling at him when they don't move the right way at the right time. I figured helping the guy would be more productive than joining in your petty arguments about song choice and lead vocals.'

She turned back to Santana, 'Also, I _can _dance and have been doing it for a lifetime longer than you have. I'veworked with Stanley before and quite frankly, I would find sticking rusty needles through my eyes and under my nails more enjoyable. But I guess…as Santana said, it's not like I do anything. I don't know why I joined in the first place. I'll leave you guys to find someone better.'

Nat flung herself around and stalked back towards her car, throwing the car into gear as she tore out of the parking lot and sped to about halfway to her house before just pulling over to the side of the road and sitting there for awhile.

It was just like before, people just standing by and watching the bullies. It was worse now because even the other victims didn't try to help, unlike when it had occurred in Oz.

With a sad smile, Nat typed a short message to Calli and then another to Riley before turning her phone off and throwing it into the recesses of the car.

She fiddled with the controls of the car again before moving off the side of the road and speeding down the empty highway. She didn't take the turn-off to her house, instead continuing down to Westerville with her hair dancing through the wind. She checked the time, registering it as close to 1am after waiting all that time for Stanley.

She sighed, knowing she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night with all the memories rushing through her head about her group back in Australia.

God, she missed them.

As she finally reached Westerville, she drove around aimlessly for awhile before her eyes settled on a 24hr café. She parked her car beside 2 or 3 others, grabbed her book bag and went inside.

Dragging her feet up to the counter she reached into her bag for her wallet as the woman working that night moved over, 'One grande, Italian hot chocolate. Extra cream, extra chocolate on top…and if you could add some caffeine shots to that, I'd really appreciate it… Oh, and one of…those,' she finished, gesturing at some muffins in the window.

She zoned out while the woman completed her order and moved over to a booth, clutching her drink like a lifeline. She sipped at it while running over her latin work, ensuring she was still on top of it.

She was mouthing the words to herself as she ran down the list of words when she noticed a shape sliding into the booth on the opposite side, placing books of their own on the table.

Nat looked up with a raised eyebrow as she took in the African-american teen, dressed in pressed slacks and a long sleeved, button-up shirt. He had a loosened tie and a blazer that he dropped beside him. 'Hi?' she questioned, glancing to the side and confirming that there were plenty of other empty booths.

'Hey,' he smiled. 'David.' He introduced as he extended his hand to her, which she gripped warily.

'Nat.'

'I promise I'm not here to abduct you.' He grinned easily as he finished pulling what looked like physics books out of his bag.

'That's nice to know,' Nat responded, still on her guard.

He lowered his voice as he glanced at the patrons on the other side of the café, 'I'm not usually out this late, but I need to study for this test tomorrow and my dorm was being…uncooperative. To be honest, those guys over there look scary,' he admitted sheepishly.

Nat grimaced with agreement as she finished the dregs of her caffeinated hot chocolate, staring into space for a minute, deep in thought.

Olivia said that Calli would want this, right? Nat thought back to the bubbly blonde and smiled. Yes, she would. In fact, Calli would slap her for how she'd been acting these last few months. Nat looked at the boy across from her and rose from her seat, grabbing her purse again, 'you want something?'

'Whatever is the strongest they have,' he frowned as he looked over what Nat assumed were his notes.

Nat raised her eyebrow before going and ordering two of what she just had. She slapped it down beside him, sliding back into the booth and taking a refreshing sip of hers just as he groaned in pleasure at the hit of caffeine before looking at her. 'I doubt this is the strongest.'

'It's hot chocolate with caffeine shots. It tastes much better than the strongest coffee and keeps you awake just as well. Besides, you looked like you needed something a bit sweeter.'

He nodded, 'Yea, you're right,' he said, sliding over his share of the cost, which pushed back, shaking her head.

'Keep it, you can buy the next round.' The boy agreed before hunching over his books.

'So what brings you here?' he muttered distractedly as he made some notes in neat shorthand.

'Bad memories keeping me up. Figured I'd make use of it.'

'Nightmares get the best of all of us, I guess. You talk about em to anyone? I swear it helps.'

'Heh, I have a therapist.' Nat responded grimly, keeping her head down.

David on the other hand paused in his revision, looking up in concern, 'That bad, huh?'

He took Nat's silence as her answer and was concerned as he saw a glistening tear strike her carefully written notes.

'Look, I know I look like a creeper right now, but sometimes talking to someone you aren't around all the time can be a bigger help than someone being paid to care.'

Nat looked up at him a half-smile on her face as she raised an eyebrow, 'Why? Volunteering?'

'If you want,' he shrugged self-consciously. 'I've been through it myself. You don't have to talk about…whatever it is. But if you ever need to talk to someone, I'm happy to lend an ear.'

'That's sweet of you, David, but I dunno about airing my secrets to someone I've just met…'

'Then don't.' He smiled again, 'Let me be your friend then, you look like you need one.'

Nat laughed in disbelief, 'Thanks?'

'You know what I mean.' He rubbed the back of his neck as Nat kept giggling into her hand, her eyes alight with mischief.

She pushed her own books to the edge of the table sliding around til she was sitting next to him looking over his notes, 'Speed and Velocity?'

'Yea, it's not that it's hard to understand but I have issues putting theory into practice,' he muttered again as he punched numbers into his calculator and groaned. 'Damn it, wrong again.'

'Surely it isn't worth staying up all night before a test for?'

'I'm not putting my high GPA at stake for a little sleep.'

Nat glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, speed reading through his notes before finally picking up her own notepad and pencil. 'Teach me.'

David paused, turning to face her, 'Sorry?'

'Teach me how to do it,' Nat insisted as she looked at him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'…Didn't I just say I can't do it myself?'

'I reckon you probably can, all you need to do is put it into your own words. Research has proven that you discover new ways to do things and understand better when you attempt to explain the subject to someone else.'

David still looked sceptical but at her steadfast expression relented, 'Ok, but only for a bit, and if it hasn't worked I go back to freaking out over my other notes.'

'Sure, but you won't need to.'

David rolled his eyes at her confidence before starting to explain the theories and ways of solving the problems to the otherwise scientifically-challenged girl. But after about an hour his eyes lit up and without explanation started scribbling down numbers at some ridiculous pace. Nat stared at his page bemused before he turned and hugged her, 'You are _amazing!_'

Nat's eyes widened as she tried to remain breathing normally, 'I- I know. I- I take it it worked then?'

'Yes! It makes so much more sense now! I can't believe I'd been missing that!'

Nat laughed as she slid around to the other side of the table again before beginning to stand up. 'I need another drink…want one?'

'Ugh, please,' David said, pushing across some money for his shout before returning to his practice questions where he'd started redoing them all to ensure he was finally getting it right.

Nat returned again and sat flicking the pages of history book for a while as she ensured she knew everything she'd need to for the pop quiz the teacher would be holding soon (her history teacher was so very transparent…).

'So, you go Crawford?' David asked as he pushed his notes away from him with slight disgust, instead grabbing his coffee and leaning back against the booth. Clearly time for a break, Nat thought to herself.

'Nah, I could have but…I dunno, I wanted to keep going at public school for awhile.'

'And how's that working out for you?' David inquired, raising his eyebrow.

'Like shit.' Nat said bluntly taking a huge glup of liquid gold.

'What public school could you possibly be going to if you live in Westerville? The only one I know is for the kids from Juvvie.'

'I live halfway between here and Lima, I go to McKinley at the moment.' Nat responded, relaxing into the warm conversation David provided.

'Jesus, I heard that place is the hotel for jerks. I go to Dalton myself.'

'Jesus, I heard that place is the hotel for dappers.' Nat grinned at him to show she was just teasing. 'Sometimes I wish I'd just decided to go to Crawford. Nothing much is happening to keep me around McKinley at the moment.'

'Then why not move?' David leaned forward, 'Any person that far ahead in Latin would be welcomed with open arms to the Crawford-Dalton schools.'

Nat shot him a grin, 'Can't move mid-year, that'd suck drastically. I'm thinking I'll stick it out until the end of this year, switch over to Crawford County Day A.S.A.P. And the Latin…I just love languages. Latin was the only one McKinley offered I hadn't already learnt.'

'Oh?' David shot her a look of surprise, 'what ones do you know?'

'Uh…' Nat frowned, 'Italian, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic…Latin of course,' she continued gesturing to her books, 'I know a bit of Portuguese as well.'

David stared at her in shock, 'I can barely keep up my A in French.'

'I'd be happy to tutor,' Nat teased, 'My dad's work took him across the world and when I was little they took me with them. We moved to Spain when I was 2 and spent 3 years there, then we spent 2 years in Italy, 2 in Germany, 1 in Brazil…I believe 2 in Japan, 1 in China…I learnt French from our housekeeper, Terese, who is from Paris and I learnt Arabic from one of my father's board member's wives who used to look after me sometimes. I was just exposed to so many different languages when I was young enough to learn them quickly. I guess I was lucky in that way.'

'Ah, my parent's just dropped me off at boarding school as soon I was old enough. When I was travelling with them we just frequented England and Australia more than anywhere foreign. I remember some places in Europe, but we were never really there for longer than 2 months at most.'

'What do your parents do?' Nat asked, curious as to why he was moved around so much.

'Oh, just corporate stuff, but they're very good at it.' David rolled his eyes, 'Yours?'

'Dad started off with a stock broker company…now he has his thumb in basically every pie available.'

David snorted slightly and glanced at his watch, 'Oh jesus…4 am…' he rubbed his face with his hand before drinking the drink like it was a lifeline. 'What kind of hot chocolate is this, by the way?…it's a godsend and amazing and I do not understand why I have never had it before. It's like having coffee that actually tastes nice.'

Nat rattled off the contents with a speed and familiarity David found himself in slight frightened of, 'Grande, Italian hot chocolate with extra caffeine shots and extra cream. This batch had 3 shots of caffeine. I think.'

David held his cup in front of him, looking at it with a newfound appreciation. 'So this is like a night's sleep in a cup.'

'Yep.'

'And I've had…?

'3.'

'Right. So I won't be sleeping for?'

'First time I had that many? Almost 2 days. But I've built up a tolerance.'

'Ok then.'

They chatted aimlessly for awhile as the light came up outside and the woman behind the counter was replaced with the morning shift.

'Hey, can I grab your number?' Nat asked suddenly.

'Definitely.' David said, rattling off some numbers that Nat scrawled into the top of her book before giving him hers.

Gathering their things and making their way out front, Nat stopped and looked at David for a bit before pulling him down into a massive hug and whispering into his ear, 'Thank you. You have no idea how much you helped.'

She smiled and moved over to her car, reaching behind her and retrieving her phone to punch in David's number before she forgot and then calling Riley.

'Hello?'

'Bonjour,' Nat winced as he started ranting at her, only to be interrupted as his wife decided she could do a better job at it.

'Sorry, its just…last night I…there was just…I needed to sit and think. I met a nice guy and he helped me heaps. I'm feeling better than I have in a long time, more…myself I guess.'

'That's nice, mon cher, but if you ever decide to text 'I won't be home tonight' to us again, _DO NOT TURN YOUR PHONE OFF AFTERWARDS!'_

Nat yanked her phone from her ear as Terese screamed into the phone. 'Um, I'll just head straight to school, they have showers there and I have spare clothes in my bag. So, I'll see you guys when I get home.'

She shut down the phone and sped off to school, arriving almost an hour earlier than she usually did, moving into the girl's gym locker rooms and having a quick wash before changing into a grey woollen dress with a black shawl and fixing her hair into a French braid as she left the locker rooms and moved towards her own lockers for her algebra books for her first class.

'Hey! Natalie!' Nat groaned slightly as she turned around with a patient smile on her face.

'Yea, Artie?'

'Is it true you quit Glee Club?' He asked, actually looking rather upset.

Natalie cleared her throat slightly before matching him in volume, which brought a smile to his face before it flooded with disappointment, 'Yes, it is. I'm not an asset to the team and I wasn't really enjoying it anyway.'

'Man, whose going to help me with my moves now?' Artie teased.

'I'm sure you can manage to add in your own spins and wheelies.' Nat laughed as she arranged her locker.

'Well…what are you doing now? Have you joined another club or something?' He asked, reaching in a locker below hers and to the left, his own locker.

'Nah, Glee was the only club I was in. But I guess now I'll have more of a chance to focus on my own artwork. Submit to some competitions like Mr. Leon was hinting at.'

'Whatever the cheerios said, you realise this is what they want, right? Us leaving the club?'

'I know, I know, they're just covering for their own insecurities but...I had already talked to Mr. Shue about this the other day. Especially now Rachel is bringing in Stanley to choreograph.'

'…Well if you're sure,' he frowned before grinning up at her, 'hey, I never thanked you for that Youtube link! It was you doing that dance with the guy in the wheelchair, right?'

Natalie winked, 'Maybe. It took while to get the jumps and lifts right…' she mused as she shut the locker and lent against it.

'I can imagine, it was real cool when you did the handstand on his hands and he held you up like that.'

'Yea, Derek was an amazing dancer before his accident. He just refused to give up. I felt safer with him lifting me than I ever felt being lifted by my mate Ben.' Nat laughed as she looked at Artie, 'No reason you can't be the same way. Tell you what, if you're interested I'll help you still, after school or something on the days you don't have glee.'

'Oh yea, definitely.' Artie grinned at her, 'Thanks again, Natalie.'

'Not a problem! Gotta run though!' She called as she dodged through the crowds to her class.

XOXOXOXO

According to Brad, Stanley broke them within 5 min but they managed to find a backbone so fast he was gone 5min after that. It was really quite impressive.

Nat smiled as she passed the glee room during Rachel's pep talk. It was really sweet and made up easily for the fact that the girl usually dug into her about her usual lack of vocal volume.

'We already lost Nat…I don't want to lose you guys too.'

Nat closed her eyes and lent against the wall, peeking around and catching Brad's eye from where he sat, ready to be called on, and smiled.

XOXOXOXO

BOOM!

Nat sat bolt upright from where she had been leaning on her folded arms and gave a startled cry. 'Oh my god, oh my god.'

Then she noticed David, still working on his French (which she had been helping him on, being true to her word), having not battered an eye.

'Ah, David, something your end just _blew up_.'

David raised an eyebrow as he looked behind him to his partially open door, seeing Blaine hand off a wet towel to a flustered looking boy in a covered in what looked like muffin mix. 'You'd be surprised how often that happens actually. Some of the boys just don't get that they should give up on cooking…'

Nat's eye twitched slightly as she took in his perfectly calm expression, 'That was someone blowing up food?'

'It looked like muffins?' he added, trying to hide a smile at Nat's wide-eyed expression.

'So…if I was to say,' David spoke some 'french', asking for her input.

'I'd respond with, 'I think you had one to many drinks at the bar in the land of make-believe and took a wrong turn.'. That sounded _nothing _like French, mate. The Eiffel Tower is wilting from disappointment right now.'

'Ugh,' David smashed his head onto the table. 'I swear I don't know what's wrong at the moment. I'm not usually this off with my pronunciation.'

'Yea, you've had me listen to your garbled French for 2 hours now. I'm about to hit a wall. You're trying too hard! Relax, let it roll from your tongue like the tacky top40 hits your lot favours or something,' she muttered into her arms before raising her head and pausing.

'Uh, David?'

'What?'

'Not to…ah…alarm you or anything, but…umm…'

David fixed her with a puzzled look, 'What, Nat?'

'Behind you, mate. Behind you.'

'Wha-' Nat's eyes widened as her new friend was smashed by some sort of muffin mixture by two boys. One with blonde hair, one with brown.

'NIFF!'

David chased them out of his room, running after them with what looked like a bat of some kind.

Nat stared at the now empty webcam view before turning away to grab some of her own work. She turned back to the screen and screamed in fright as the entirety of the view was now filled with two huge eyes. Each from a different person.

'H-holy shit,' she stuttered as she trembled. The boys that were the original reason for David's abrupt exit stood back from the camera, instead choosing to lean onto David's desk with their heads resting on their hands. They stared at her awhile longer before they shared a look. When they looked at her again, their eyes seemed to have brightened even more.

'Hello, Miss Tyler.' One of them smiled creepily.

Nat looked at them slightly strangely, 'Ah, how do you know me?'

'You've been talking to Wes and David, of course we did a background check.' The other waved off. They were staring at her like they knew…wait, would that come up in the background check? She hoped not.

'Right…well, David is evidently busy so, uh, I'll just be going.'

'You sure you don't want to stay awhile longer, Miss Tyler? We really should talk about what your intentions are making friends with David since you _are _in a rival choir after all.'

'David's in a choir? Look, I'm not trying t-'

'Nat!' her father called from his study via the intercom. She sighed and groaned as she banged her head on the desk. 'No, no I do not want to stay awhile. I've actually gotta go.'

The boys looked away with blushes as she leaned forward over her desk to reach the intercom system, accidently giving the two ample view into her top. 'Yes, father?'

'I need to talk to you, please come to my office.'

Nat raised an eyebrow as the system clicked off. 'Ok then…Um, well I have to go, so tell David I'll talk to him soon, I guess.'

The boys coughed awkwardly and one gestured at his chest before they both blushed again and switched off skype.

Nat sat for a second wondering what…Oh shit. She stared at the awkward placement of the intercom in relation to her computer and glared at it for a while before quickly exiting her room.

Nat made her way down the stairs and down the corridor to her father's study, knocking tentatively on the doorframe.

'You called?'

'Yes, take a seat.' Mr. Tyler responded, standing and rearranging some papers into a filing cabinet.

Mr. Tyler was an unassuming man. In his late 40s, he had thick rimmed, square glasses perched on his nose and was a little on the chubby side. He always wore a suit with a double-wilson tie which was always a block of bright colour to offset his usual black or grey suits. His shoes shined, and his slightly-greying brunette hair was always carefully tamed. It never really looked that different to every office worker but if you looked into his eyes, you saw a burning fire of dedication and ambition that made him so successful.

To Nat, he was just the ever-absent father.

'Now, I want you to look over the recent changes to your mother and I's will. We want to make sure that if anything happens…'

'The family business and fortune cannot be taken away from us under any circumstance, I know father.'

Mr. Tyler smiled softly at his daughter with a small amount of sadness. He knew he hadn't been the best father to her, but he was proud of the woman she was growing up to be. Talented at business and already able to proof-read documents for him, she was his final checkpoint. After the lawyers, the other board members and the major stakeholders had looked through any changes, he pushed them onto Natalie, as she had picked up subtle changes to the documents that would have left him ruined more than once.

Nat received the altered document with a small frown. It was much thinner than previous.

'I simplified a lot of my hopes for some of the money,' he offered in way of explanation.

'Of course,' Nat murmured, flicking her way through the pages before putting it down on her legs, 'And father? I was wondering about possibly changing schools at the end of the year. McKinley isn't as challenging as I hoped and I feel that Crawford, Dalton's sister school, may have more to offer in way of Arts and Languages.'

Mr. Tyler pursed his lips, 'I thought you ruled that out when you moved here.'

'Yes, I did. But I feel that it was…incorrect of me to rule it out as an option so early. I feel as though I have cheated myself out of a better education.'

Mr. Tyler considered the idea for a moment before nodding, 'If you can get me the forms, I'll sign them before I head out again and you can just fill in the other information yourself.'

Natalie nodded as she stood and moved to the door, pausing in the frame and looking back over her shoulder, 'I love you, daddy.'

'Of course you do, Nat. Oh, and Nat? If you find nothing wrong with that will, keep it in a safe place. Your own copy, in case something happens.'

Nat sighed deeply as she clutched the documents to her chest and nodded. 'Yes, father.'

XOXOXOX

Meh, I didn't know where to cut it. That seemed good enough x.x Hopefully I didn't move too fast with Nat speaking up again. I just figured that Olivia using Calli would be something Nat responded to very fast. I don't know if you guys have worked out enough to know that would be enough or not, but I thought it worked XD


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